After writing my love story a couple of weeks ago, I was looking for some feel-good music that would take me back in time. As I blasted the music and sang with gusto to my husband, I told him this was how I felt about him before we were married, and that I still felt this way. He grinned and thought I looked too preoccupied to cook, so he took the spatula out of my hand and continued cooking as I sang into a pretend microphone. I could tell he didn’t even like the songs, that he was putting up with my nonsense just to be nice. But he grinned nonetheless.
The sappy music brought back memories of when my sister used to babysit me. She would crank up the tunes, and all four of us girls would sing and dance around the room, skating with our wool slippers across the hard floor. Ahhh, yes. The bygone days. The music brings back all the feelings associated with that era. My whole life was before me back then. My dreams were as big as the universe. The possibilities for my life were endless and exciting.
More memories were triggered, and I saw my parents slow dancing to 50’s music. I thought it was cute, and it made me feel secure. My dad played those 50’s records on the record player. Sometimes the record would skip, and we would pick up the needle and place it back down on the record.
I remember playing 50’s music when I made a restaurant in my sister’s bedroom. It was a romantic cafe. I had a tablecloth on a card table with two folding chairs. I lit candles and my three sisters helped me to serve my parents from the menu. My parents picked whatever dessert they wanted, and I went back to the kitchen to have my older sister scoop out the ice cream into two dishes. My parents looked happy at my restaurant. The ambiance was wonderful. Life was happy.
Sometimes it’s fun just to crank up music and be silly with your family. Love songs are particularly good to play when you are alone with your husband, since music from your dating days will evoke the same emotions that were there when you heard them back then. Music is powerful in improving your mood as well. So go ahead and crank up the music. Let the good times roll…
Tags: family, Growing Up as a Missionary Kid, music, nostalgia
